Democracy Now! Blog

The Environmental Protection Agency has declared a public health emergency in the town of Libby, Montana, where hundreds of people have died from asbestos contamination. It is the first time such a declaration has been made by the EPA. For decades, W.R. Grace and Co. mined asbestos-contaminated vermiculite in Libby. See extended Democracy Now! coverage

Ken Saro-Wiwa and Alberto Pizango never met, but they are united by a passion for the preservation of their people and their land, and by the fervor with which they were targeted by their respective governments.

Profits are higher than ever at oil companies Chevron and Shell. Yet across the globe, from the Ecuadorian jungle, to the Niger Delta in Nigeria, to the courtrooms and streets of New York and San Ramon, Calif., people are fighting back against the world’s oil giants.

"All across the nation, Latinos were ecstatic after learning that President Obama had named federal Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Senate approval would make her the first Hispanic to serve on the high court."

At a committee hearing with 15 industry speakers, not one represented the single-payer perspective. A group of single-payer advocates, including doctors and lawyers, filled the hearing room and, one by one, interrupted the proceedings.

Keith Olberman reported on May 1, 2009 on an academic study published by researchers from The Ohio State University, entitled "The Irony of Satire: Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report." The study looked at The Colbert Report, the popular "fake news" program, by asking people to view the Colbert segment from Oct. 5, 2006, when Colbert interviewed Amy about her book, Static.

Back in the Watergate era, the Church Committee documented and exposed extraordinary abuses by the government. Of course some people tried to block its work—Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Sound familiar? We confront a similar challenge today.

The door to justice is open just a crack. After the release of four Bush-era Office of Legal Counsel memos that authorized "harsh interrogation techniques," President Obama said there should be no prosecutions. Though he may occupy the most powerful office on Earth, there is a force more powerful: committed people demanding change. Torturers should be punished.

Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan — What price would you pay not to kill another human being? At what point would you commit the offenses allegedly perpetrated by Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was charged Wednesday with desertion and “misbehavior before an enemy?”